The proliferation of transaction cards, which allow the cardholder to pay with credit rather than cash, started in the United States in the early 1950s. Initial transaction cards were typically restricted to select restaurants and hotels and were often limited to an exclusive class of individuals. Since the introduction of plastic credit cards, the use of transaction cards have rapidly proliferated from the United States, to Europe, and then to the rest of the world. Transaction cards are not only information carriers, but also typically allow a consumer to pay for goods and services without the need to constantly possess cash, or if a consumer needs cash, transaction cards allow access to funds through an automatic teller machine (ATM). Transaction cards also reduce the exposure to the risk of cash loss through theft and reduce the need for currency exchanges when traveling to various foreign countries. Due to the advantages of transaction cards, hundreds of millions of cards are now produced and issued annually, thereby resulting in a need for companies to differentiate their cards from competitor's cards.
Initially, the transaction cards often included the issuer's name, the cardholder's name, the card number, and the expiration date embossed onto the card. The cards also usually included a signature field on the back of the card for the cardholder to provide a signature to protect against forgery and tampering. Thus, the cards served as devices to provide data to merchants and the security associated with the card was the comparison of the cardholder's signature on the card to the cardholder's signature on a receipt along with the embossed cardholder's name on the card.
Due to the popularity of transaction cards, numerous companies, banks, airlines, trade groups, sporting teams, clubs and other organizations have developed their own transaction cards. As such, many companies continually attempt to differentiate their transaction cards and increase market share not only by offering more attractive financing rates and low initiation fees, but also by offering unique, aesthetically pleasing features on the transaction cards. As such, many transaction cards include not only demographic and account information, but the transaction cards also include graphic images, designs, photographs and security features. A recent security feature is the incorporation of a diffraction grating, or holographic image, into the transaction card which appears to be three-dimensional. Holographic images restrict the ability to fraudulently copy or reproduce transaction cards because of the need for extremely complex systems and apparatus for producing holograms.
Administrative and security issues, such as charges, credits, merchant settlement, fraud, reimbursements, etc., have increased due to the increasing use of transaction cards. Thus, the transaction card industry started to develop more sophisticated transaction cards which allowed the electronic reading, transmission, and authorization of transaction card data for a variety of industries. For example, magnetic stripe cards, optical cards, smart cards, calling cards, and supersmart cards have been developed to meet the market demand for expanded features, functionality, and security. In addition to the visual data, the incorporation of a magnetic stripe on the back of a transaction card allows digitized data to be stored in machine readable form. As such, magnetic stripe readers are used in conjunction with magnetic stripe cards to communicate purchase data received from a cash register device on-line to a host computer along with the transmission of data stored in the magnetic stripe, such as account information and expiration date.
Due to the susceptibility of the magnetic stripe to tampering, the lack of confidentiality of the information within the magnetic stripe and the problems associated with the transmission of data to a host computer, integrated circuits were developed which may be incorporated into transaction cards. These integrated circuit (IC) cards, known as smart cards, proved to be very reliable in a variety of industries due to their advanced security and flexibility for future applications. However, even integrated circuit cards are susceptible to counterfeiting.
As magnetic stripe cards and smart cards developed, the market demanded international standards for the cards. The card's physical dimensions, features and embossing area were standardized under the International Standards Organization (“ISO”), ISO 7810 and ISO 7811. The issuer's identification, the location of particular compounds, coding requirements, and recording techniques were standardized in ISO 7812 and ISO 7813, while chip card standards were established in ISO 7813. For example, ISO 7811 defines the standards for the magnetic stripe which is a 0.5 inch stripe located either in the front or rear surface of the card and which is divided into three longitudinally parallel tracks. The first and second tracks hold read-only information with room for 79 alphanumeric characters and 40 numeric characters, respectively. The third track is reserved for financial transactions and includes enciphered versions of the user's personal identification number, country code, currency units, amount authorized per cycle, subsidiary accounts, and restrictions.
More information regarding the features and specifications of transaction cards can be found in, for example, Smart Cards by Jose Luis Zoreda and Jose Manuel Oton, 1994; Smart Card Handbook by W. Rankl and W. Effing, 1997, and the various ISO standards for transaction cards available from ANSI (American National Standards Institute), 11 West 42nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10036.
The incorporation of machine-readable components onto transactions cards encouraged the proliferation of devices to simplify transactions by automatically reading from and/or writing onto transaction cards. Such devices include, for example, bar code scanners, magnetic stripe readers, point of sale terminals (POS), automated teller machines (ATM) and card-key devices. With respect to ATMs, the total number of ATM devices shipped in 1999 was 179,274 (based on Nilson Reports data) including the ATMs shipped by the top ATM manufacturers, namely NCR (138-18 231st Street, Laurelton, N.Y. 11413), Diebold (5995 Mayfair, North Canton, Ohio 44720-8077), Fujitsu (11085 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, Calif. 92037), Omron (Japan), OKI (Japan) and Triton.
Typical transaction cards are made from thermoplastic materials, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). However, these transaction cards are susceptible to being damaged or destroyed if exposed to damaging environments. For example, transaction cards may be damaged if left exposed to the elements for an extended period of time. Moisture and/or sunlight may break down the chemical bonds within the polymers of typical transaction cards, such that transaction cards left exposed to moisture and sunlight may become warped, cracked and unusable. In addition, thermoplastic transaction cards may be easily bent or may be broken or cut, thereby damaging the transaction card and rendering it unusable.
A need, therefore, exists for a transaction card that has both strength and durability. Moreover, a need exists for a transaction card that withstands exposure to the elements, such as moisture or sunlight. A need further exists for a transaction card that may incorporate the features noted above, such as holograms, signature panels, magnetic stripes, microchips, and the like, such that is has both strength and durability. In addition, a need exists for a transaction card that overcomes the problems noted above.